Upon starting my career as a weatherman, I learnt/was taught that weather has no political boundaries. That is most prevalent today with the advent of modern technology, as a person can determine weather conditions in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo or Beijing at the click of a button.
Like everything in life, where there is a political opportunity, it will be taken and there is no Holy Cow in that equation.
The first mention of climate change principles was as early as the 1820s, when the French mathematician, Joseph Fourier, theorised that the atmosphere traps heat and that Earth's temperature is influenced by its atmospheric composition.
In 1979, when the first World Climate Conference was held, the public generally was oblivious to any aspects of climate change.
Even though the first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1992, it was not until the publication of Al Gore’s book “An Inconvenient Truth” and the film by the same name, that the public first became aware of aspects of climate change.
I think the first time it really hit home was when the phasing out and banning of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) started. Remember the change in refrigeration coolant and aerosol can propellants.
Then came the Greta Thunberg speeches at the United Nations Youth Climate Summit and the COP26 address, whereafter climate change became the flavour of the day.
Thereafter all and everything was attributed to climate change. It became a good excuse for governments to hide their inability to be proactive in many areas of society and most especially disaster mitigation.
Every natural disaster is now blamed on climate change, both locally and internationally. It does not matter that such events have previously occurred regularly in the past.
I know that our spin doctors will blame our next flood on climate change in the Bay, even if it is less severe than the 1968 or 1981 events. This despite various warnings and suggested ways to mitigate its effects.
Greta and Al Gore got the desired attention and the world listened and there was and still is a concerted effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels and replace power generation with renewable energy. Nations committed themselves to reducing the release of greenhouse gasses and combating deforestation through tree planting and other efforts.
After withdrawing from the Paris Agreement (a legally binding global treaty on climate change) in January this year, President Trump dropped a bombshell at the recent UN Assembly. In his speech he called climate change a “con job”/” a green scam”. He claimed that clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, are expensive and do not work. His big beef it seems was that the economics of renewable energy harming the economy and resulting in higher energy costs.
The reaction from all sectors must surely have been a massive “WOW”. This was WOW on the one side of the court, as to this man has surely lost his marbles, to the other side of the court where some might say that there might be some truth in what he is saying.
No matter where one stands, the fact is that he was talking from an economic and ultimately a political viewpoint. This is however irrelevant, but what is relevant is that he commands one of the largest economies in the world. As with the value of the dollar, everything America does or does not do affects us all.
This will not only apply to the amount of greenhouse gasses released by the nation, but also the secondary consequences around the world.
Considering that natural gas, coal and nuclear are the cheapest form of power generation and that solar is by far the most expensive, it is only logical that America will have a competitive edge if it moves towards a higher usage of fossil fuels. This will more than likely lead to a chain reaction with other nations following America’s lead, if they wish to remain competitive.
As they say, money makes the world go round and we will most definitely see an undoing of all the previous efforts made in combating climate change.
We are however lucky that there are many nations that embrace the concept of saving our planet for future generations. Hopefully they can convince the major players such as America, China and other industrial nations to toe the line in saving our planet.
The general population can still play our part with simple things like recycling, reducing our carbon footprint and planting trees.
We only have one planet, and it is worth saving.
This week in history:
1823 Settlers homes flooded after a prolonged drought
Dam Levels
63.14% slightly down from previous weeks 64.44 %.
Impofu slightly down to under 48.41%.
Weather Safety Tips:
Always make sure that you always have a few days’ supply of drinking water, non-perishable food and other essentials, for an emergency. Whenever there are serious floods, water supply and electricity are the first things to be affected.
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